My Phone Is My Best Friend – Social Media tips for individuals14 min read

Without my beat-up Smartphone, I would most likely lose my mind, and so might you. 

The other day I had to Tag myself to a Facebook post because I noticed that a friend had mistakenly Tagged another “David”; I didn’t get upset because I could relate – I’ve got so much Facebook friends on my end that every day I get notifications about Birthdays – this plethora has made Birthdays lose the spark they once had when we were kids, or is it just me?. 

Anyway, it makes one marvel at the reality that everyone, including strangers passed in the streets, has a life equally as complex as ours, which they are constantly living despite our lack of awareness of it – each person feeling special in their little way. 

It’s a funny yet beautiful world I must say.

Another notification, Oh! It’s from the Business group I joined last week, this is like the 10th group this year. There’s just so much information being tossed around. It’s jarring – texts, voice notes, videos, gifs, stickers, and so on…it never stops coming.

The other day some guy posted Screenshots of the conversation he had with WillSmith: he had like 1 million views, likes, retweets, and the thread was forever extending and branching – the whole world was literally converging around those Screenshots, and then the next day we were all talking about the Big Brother show. 

Another notification, this one is actually important; seems she saw my post about my Artworks and thought they were beautiful, let’s see if she would like to get one

“Hi”

…

Welcome to The Matrix – The New World of Social Media

It’s really a fascinating world we now live in. Better still is the world we have created for ourselves. A world of Frozen smiles and Moments. You know, those perfect shots – with the perfect angle, lightning – capturing the perfect smile and our most cherished moments. It’s great

Every second, every moment, someone somewhere is saying something over a text, a voice note is being recorded, videos are being shot and forwarded – it never stops, we never stop interacting with each other on the internet – especially social media.

Even when we fall asleep, our online profile still interacts with people around the world, actively displaying and sharing our views, opinions, and personas. It keeps interacting with people – within our environment or the other end of the globe – and depending on how cool, funny, or insane, we are, or the thing(s) we did, we’d wake up each day to new likes, shares, and followers.

The internet keeps us so interconnected and seemingly ever-present that some people even get upset that they saw us online, sent us a message, but we didn’t respond

Pause!

Wait for a second, “they saw us online but we didn’t respond”, that statement reveals something subtle yet very real: it means there is another form of us that can exist online, that is created by every post and like, by everything we do on the internet – our interactions (everything we say, like or share; how we set up our profiles)

Pause again, “Profiles”

We create an online personality by creating a Profile which we give a face (Display Picture – Dp), a name (Handle). It becomes an extension of ourselves. An Avatar with which we navigate this internet world. It is us in another form – In a digital form. 

All we do is attributed to it, just as it is attributed to us. It contains our thoughts and opinions. In a sense, it is a digital construct of ourselves that never sleeps, nor rests. That isn’t limited by space and time. That can talk to people across the world and across the street simultaneously. It is our omnipresent self – being omnipresent, it is a version of ourselves that everyone sees all the time, wherever they may be.

Now, we have to be careful concerning this. If it is what everyone sees, it simply implies that it is what everyone would judge us by. The Company that wishes to Employ us might want to go through our “Profile” to see who we truly are (and they do go through), hence our Profiles are now our new Curriculum Vitae (CV).

I’m talking about a static and stamped version of ourselves that is ever-present. Something that exists for everyone to access and rate us by because whatever we say through our Avatar (Profiles) would be amplified and repeated all over the world to everyone even when we are asleep. 

Even if we tell ourselves that it’s not who we are, well, the reality is that people cannot differentiate, and they shouldn’t, because why should they? we made it, it’s our creation, it was birthed by us, and now why shouldn’t be a part of us? It is our Avatar, it is who we are (or at least were – when we were last seen Online)

Friends Stick Together

No longer are phones just a means of contacting distant people, it’s now a way of entirely projecting oneself into this new world of the internet and social media – a world in which you gradually materialize yourself by your interactions (with the platform).

Hence, whatever you type, record, and post or share, creates an online version of you because it is your opinion and thought

Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at

 – Johann Wolfgang 

Look at your friends, what do you see when you look at their profiles? Isn’t it a reflection of their ways of thinking, and habits, isn’t its things that you see on their timelines? Don’t you see that they post just how they think? Don’t you think that others are seeing you too?

We are one with our Profiles. In essence, when you look at your phone, you are seeing your friends on your phone and your friends are seeing you on their phones as well. Seeing your friends through and on your phone simply means your Phone is now your friends just as your friends’ phone is now you. It’s a loose argument, but the essence of the argument is to point out to you that within your pocket is your companion – all your friends

We live in a world where our friends are all on the internet. We interact with them through our phones just as they interact with us through theirs – Our phones are now our friends. Now, if other people are perceiving their phones as you, wouldn’t it be nice to make sure that you are a nice friend within their pockets?

Now, some would wonder if I am suggesting they project a fake persona, but, no-no-no-no! that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that “No one lights a candle and hides it under the bed”. 

I’m talking about you projecting your positivity, ideas, and light – this verge into self-development and improvement; it is anchored on becoming your best self so that people would see something good in you. It’s about becoming at least one percent better daily and rejoicing over that one percent (as you post about it)

The filtering

The second part of the puzzle is this: Just as you are showing up on other people’s phones, they are also showing up on your phone. I wonder if you know the saying, “show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are”, Well, if that is the case, consider again that you are now walking around with friends in your pockets.

Hence, just as it is expedient to walk around with good friends, it is vital to have good friends on your Phone. You have to disconnect with people who would try to pull you down and stick with those who would push you forward – these days, its just as simple as typing @iamdickdavid, and Boom! you’ve connected

On a more serious note, you have to compile and accumulate “Profiles” on that Phone that would inspire you, push you forward, and impact your life positively.

When you walk around with your Phone, you are walking around with your Friends – Hence, “My Phone Is My Best Friend”

This is why people frown at Advertisements (Ads). This is because most Ads are like obnoxious strangers, they walk into your space and give you a piece of their mind whether it vibes with you or not – but that’s a story for another day.

My Phone Made Me Do It – how social media influences society

There is a Phenomenon called “Priming”, it comes to play when you are exposed to something for a sustained period. Just as people get caught up in the heat of the moment, or get pressured by friends into doing things they wouldn’t normally do, so also our phones influence us.

You know how it goes, the craze about a new shoe, or constant use of a phrase from a great movie, so also, we naturally get drawn to things that are constantly being shown to us on our phones.

Hence, if you surround yourself with profiles that always talk about shoes and pieces of jewelry’, you would find yourself buying more and more of those – not that buying of Jewelries is bad, Heck! I even use the phenomenon to my advantage in selling my Art, every business uses it in a way, that’s why they run the Ads and put up the Banners. What you see is what you desire 

But, buying pieces of jewelry or Art is the least of your problems, the real eerie part of Priming is that what you consistently observe slowly, but progressively alter the way you think and behave. For instance, being overly exposed to talks about infidelity would cause one to shrink into a world of fear and distrust, whilst keeping in touch with contents related to love and happiness would expand someone’s heart to be more trusting and forgiving. I know this brings to question our self-control and will, but that’s just outside the scope of this, and would also be left for another day 

How to Better Your Social Media Experience – tips for individuals

Consider everything – profiles, friends, pages, groups, Blogs, etc.. put everything aside and ask yourself what you want from yourself. What would you love to be in the future? What kind of influence do you need? Who or what is drawing you back or distracting you?

After you reach your conclusion and have decided that you want to be this or that, you are now halfway there. 

I know most of us to suffer from commitment problems, we say we want to do this and then we end up not doing it or, worse, end up doing the contrary. Well, like I’ve pointed out, you need someone to push you (or should I say “Prime” you?).

When I, for example, wake up each morning and open my Instagram, GarryVee jumps at me, yelling that I should do more, then there is the fatherly advice of DanLok, and then I have Mark Manson, like a Sunday preacher, rubbing it on my face what my shortcomings are and how to overcome them, not to mention John Obidi from Facebook, Nosa Nick from WhatsApp, or Sabri Suby from everywhere social. I get bombarded every blessed day with such notifications and popups. There is no way I can scroll through Instagram without one Yelling at me to go chase my dreams or be my best self.

I am in fact, a very lazy, and uninspired person, but how can I possibly rest when this guys and ladies won’t let me breathe – you see, that is the secret – you have to surround yourself with people that want you to be the best version of yourself.

Now, I don’t know what you need, or who you are, but what I do know is that there is a version of yourself that you are yet to attain, and that there is someone somewhere who has attained it already. 

Now, your challenge, and the task is to find such people and follow them. And as you do this, don’t forget to start unfollowing those who are pulling you backward. If you thinking your account has too much of the wrong things, don’t worry, there are algorithms in the platforms that observe your behavior, and if you can adhere strictly to rejecting the wrong things whilst embracing the right thing, I tell you, with time the negativity would fade away.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow

 – Helen Keller

You are Marvelous, and the World waits to see your light

Some of My Recommendations would include @iamdickdavid @markmanson @garyvee @goal.cast @danlok @sabrisuby @chionehardy @iamashcash @daily.stoic @jayshetty etcetera, etcetera… I don’t know what you want out of life, but you’ve got to surround yourself with positive energy

Join Forums and Groups. Like Pages, do everything within your power to get close to the fire, and you would be set ablaze and soon, be a light to others.

Keep the Fire Burning – connect

I have with time come to observe that WhatsApp Stories (Statuses) are one of the most powerful priming agents for the simple reason that they are closest to us. Each morning, we are tempted, if not coerced to go view the stories.

Now, remember the thing I said about priming, now, combine it with the ability to interact with the source of this Priming – when you do the maths, you’ll see that the effect skyrockets.

It is a common thing to reply to stories asking people to forward the stories or explain in detail which makes the whole experience more intense. As usual, this has both positive and negative sides to it – Like when you start splurging angry replies and getting attacked as well only to end up ruining your mood in the morning.

Anyway, I would like to imagine that you have only positivity around you, and that is great. Now, I wish to add more light to it. I’ve observed that an increasingly large amount of people has come to appreciate my Stories, constantly replying and on some occasions thanking me for the information I shared, saying how it clarified something or inspired them to do something.

Now, that is a Candle that I don’t want to put under a bed, so, I invite you to connect with me on WhatsApp and view daily uplifting and educational stories. On my stories, you’ll discover helpful information that could strengthen your relationships, inspire you, and even expose opportunities and strategies to wealth (not just monetary, but health as well – mentally and emotionally)

Who knows, you might be the one teaching and helping me out.

If you would love to establish such a great connection, simply message me on WhatsApp on this number +234 8134162353, or click on this link

I’ll love to hear your thoughts and opinions in the comments section

Thank you for reading.

Grow up, level up, step up

Dick David